Enlarge / This illustration shows a concept for a commercial lunar lander from Astrobotic Technology. (credit: NASA) For more than three years, NASA has been intensely focused on the Artemis Moon program. This high-profile international effort, spearheaded by the US space agency at a cost of nearly $7. 5 billion per year, seeks to return […]
Enlarge / Vice President Kamala Harris receives an unclassified briefing in the Command Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Space Force Base on April 18, 2022. (credit: Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) The United States will no longer conduct anti-satellite tests, Vice President Kamala Harris announced Monday. With this declaration, the country […]
Enlarge / The Space Launch System rocket rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building in mid-March, 2022. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann) After three attempts to complete a critical fueling test of the Space Launch System rocket, NASA has decided to take a break. On Saturday night the space agency announced plans to roll the large SLS […]
Enlarge / A United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster is delivered to Cape Canaveral by NASA’s Pegasus barge this week. (credit: United Launch Alliance) Welcome to Edition 4.39 of the Rocket Report! As usual there is plenty to discuss in the world of launch this week, from a successful hot fire test in Spain to […]
Enlarge / Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin (right) speaks to Russia President Vladimir Putin (left) and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko during their visit at the Vostochny cosmodrome on Tuesday. (credit: Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images) To mark the 61st anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic first spaceflight, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited his country’s newest spaceport on […]
Enlarge / Will the third time be the charm for a Space Launch System rocket fueling test? NASA will find out this week. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann) NASA will resume its efforts to complete a key fueling test of the Space Launch System rocket on Tuesday. The space agency has decided to modify this test, however, […]
Enlarge / A Pythom Space video from March 19 shows employees reacting to an expanding cloud of dust and exhaust. (credit: Pythom Space) There’s a small rocket company based in eastern California named Pythom Space. And like a lot of space startups, it has big dreams. In this case, co-founders Tina and Tom Sjögren have the goal […]
Enlarge / The Axiom-1 mission will fly on the fifth mission of this Falcon 9 rocket first stage. (credit: NASA) A crew of four private citizens is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station today on a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center. This is the Axiom-1 mission, named after the private company, […]
Enlarge / SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and the Endeavour spacecraft await the Axiom-1 crew launch on Friday. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann) Welcome to Edition 4.38 of the Rocket Report! We’re already in the second quarter of 2022, hard as it is to believe. This means that many companies with aspirations to debut new rockets this year, […]
When Billy Hoyle told Sidney Deane he’s hustled players a helluva lot better than him, I was skeptical. How many times can you show up to a pickup game and aww shucks your way into a wad of cash? Well after six rounds and thousands of votes, it seems the scheme is still humming along. […]